Rumors
began to swirl yesterday that Steve Ballmer would
be announcing a new slate PC today at his CES keynote address.
The information handed down from the New York Times concluded
that the device would feature a slate format and would be produced by
Hewlett Packard.

The
NYT's Ashlee Vance was correct on both accounts, however,
those of us looking for more than a Windows 7 slate with multi-touch
support will likely be disappointed. Instead of the whimsical
fantasies dreamt up in Microsoft's Courier videos involving dual
screens, pen input and an innovative user interface, those of us
sitting in the audience were treated to something a bit more
conventional.

In
reality, the design reminds us of Microsoft's previous
UMPC efforts, only on a larger scale. The prototype device that
Ballmer showed the crowd was running a Kindle application for Windows
7 complete with multi-touch support.

Ballmer
was quite the tease and didn't divulge any additional information on
specs or pricing -- all we know is that the device will be available
some time this year. However, we'll do our best to get more information on the device tomorrow.

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